HCDI Foundation Certificate

Unit 1.6 - How an engagement runs

Learning outcome - Describe the order of an engagement from creation to the Action Tracker, naming who acts at each stage and what stops work.

HCDI platform rule (Unit 1.6).

Why it matters. A report is the end of a process. Knowing the process shows where a report's credibility comes from, and where it could be weakened. Who acts. On the delivering firm's side: the Firm Admin, the Member, the Deal Lead and the Reviewer. On the assessed company's side: the Client HR contact, the Respondents, and, where invited, an Executive Viewer. Outside the firm: the platform administrator, HCDI Compliance, the Internal Reviewer, the HCDI verification role, and the assigned Independent Reviewer. The delivering firm does not control the HCDI roles. The order of an engagement.

1. Create the engagement.

2. Add the Reviewer.

3. Accept the Order Form.

4. Record the materiality criteria, and have a second member countersign them.

5. Add people.

6. Request and link evidence.

7. Reconcile the roster of the company's people, and answer the structured inquiries.

8. Create the assessment and score the indicators.

9. Submit for review.

10. Classify the corrective actions and have them approved in English, then in Arabic.

11. HCDI records its acts.

12. Meet the release conditions and finalize.

13. Attest the issuance statements, then issue each edition's Findings report before its Full report.

14. Follow the actions on the Action Tracker.

15. Reassess, or close.

What stops work, and who clears it. The Order Form not yet accepted. The materiality criteria not yet countersigned. A suspension for an open integrity matter. Evidence not yet tagged. Corrective actions not yet reviewed. Release conditions not yet met. An open evidence conflict. Each is a deliberate stop, and none of them can be pushed through by hand. Two endings. An engagement with an issued report stays open, with its Tracker and its later assessments. Closing is for an engagement that ends without a report.

Worked example (illustrative). A Deal Lead wants a report out before a signing. Evidence is untagged on two items. The platform will not let the assessment be submitted. The pressure is real and the stop is correct, because an untagged item has not yet had its strength recorded. Common Error. Thinking the order is a checklist the firm can reorder. It is the order the platform enforces.